Prosecutor Jamie Scott said police attended the terraced house in Jackfield Street on August 9.

Liridon Mehilley and Mufit Xhoka

Mr Scott said: “Both men attempted to leave through the rear of the property. Both were apprehended. The property was searched. It was being used as a cannabis factory.

"Compost and fertiliser were found in the first floor rear bedroom. It also contained a cupboard with a hole in the ceiling which led to the loft. The loft was lined with plastic sheets. There were nine 600 watt lamps and nine electrical transformers.

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"The electricity meter had been bypassed. There were 45 non-flowering cannabis plants being grown in the loft. They were 10 to 12 weeks from maturity and would have yielded 2.47 kilograms of skunk cannabis.”

Both defendants, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to producing a class B drug.

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Jason Holt, mitigating for Xhoka, said his client entered the country in a lorry from France and cannot legally work here.

He added: “He watered the plants and money would have been taken off his debt as a result. He wants to go home to Albania but is concerned the debt will still be present in his own country.”

Stuart Muldoon, representing Mehilley, said his client also wants to return to Albania. Mr Muldoon added: “He paid £12,000 to come to this country. He worked for one month in construction in Oxford and was then brought up to Stoke-on-Trent a few weeks before his arrest. He went to this house one day before his arrest.”

Judge David Fletcher told the defendants: “What you were involved in is not unusual, sadly.

“I accept you were performing a limited function under direction and your involvement was potentially through some form of exploitation.”